


Whiskey In A Teacup

by imaginedfables



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:55:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4170261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginedfables/pseuds/imaginedfables
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It’s not home. It’s not safe. It’s not El Rey or whatever other freedom land her father and the Gecko brothers were searching for beneath the border, but it has a bed for them to sleep on and a shower where they can wash away the grime that sticks and stains their skin and its more than enough for now. </p><p>She doesn’t question it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. there's a man with a lantern and he carries her soul

**Author's Note:**

> Italics sections are set in the past, taking place right after the Season 1 finale. Normal text is present time, six months later.  
> Title comes from Black Market Baby by Tom Waits.

_…_

_They settle down in a halfway decent motel, eerily similar to the Dew Drop Inn, just outside the border of Monterrey._

_They need a break. They need to stop. They need a moment to catch their breath without having to look over their shoulders to make sure there’s not a monster ready to steal it right away._

_It’s not home. It’s not safe. It’s not El Rey or whatever other freedom land her father and the Gecko brothers were searching for beneath the border, but it has a bed for them to sleep on and a shower where they can wash away the grime that sticks and stains their skin and its more than enough for now._

_She doesn’t question it._

_Kate hadn’t even blinked when Seth pulled the car over in a barely-functioning mini-market in Guerrero, ordering her to keep the engine running while he headed inside. She’d known what he was doing; had figured it out the second she caught him double checking his gun was safely tucked into his waistband without bothering to clean up the dried blood on his face. He’d climbed into the passenger’s seat eight minutes later, a black plastic bag filled with cash and junk food and a bottle of Patron hanging from his wrist as he barked at her to step on the accelerator._

_“Can’t do shit without cash,” he’d muttered, neither an excuse nor an apology, but a matter-of-fact that was likely to become a part of her every-day life. They’d switched seats soon after, and Seth had thrown a can of coke and bag of Doritos onto her lap before he’d sped back into the road with an, “I don’t even remember the last time we ate.”_

_She does._

_Kate can faintly remember hearing her stomach grumble while they waited for her Daddy to fix the broken hose in the RV. She can remember Scott laughing at the sound and passing her a packet of Recess Pieces while gloating about how he’d told them to stop at the Big Kahuna Burger they’d driven by just a few miles back. Remembers sticking her tongue out at him and dropping the chocolate back into his secret stash drawer, grabbing for an apple instead because she was still worrying about looking pretty in her Homecoming dress, even if Kyle would no longer be her date._

_Mostly, she remembers the fresh blood on his face as she yelled at him; remembers being furious and heartbroken and shocked that he’d hurt their father and was willing to hurt her as well. She remembers his eyes filled with anger and resentment and accusations that they both knew were unmerited; remembers her father’s pleads for forgiveness and understanding, wide blue eyes that could never hide a lie tinting yellow and black before she’d pressed her stake into his heart and ended his cursed life._

_She remembers all the red: on the bandages around Richie’s hand and then his shirt, trailing down Ranger Gonzalez’s neck from where Santanico had dug her fangs into him, on her Daddy’s arm after he’d been bit and later on his pristine white shirt, spreading wide and fast and threatening to flood over her hope. Remembers it tainting Scott’s face and the taste of it on her lips after she’d slashed a Culebra in half with a chainsaw, just as much as she remembers the way her wrist had bled under the strain of the ropes that Tanner tied on them, a thin stream of blood running down the length of her arms and onto the stone temple she’d been lying against._

_Kate remembers everything, including Seth’s promises._

_“No bumps or scrapes?” she’d whispered, looking down at her stained hands and feeling an overwhelming need to be sick. She feels it everywhere: underneath her nails and flaking on her chest and knotting in her hair, forcing her to commit every single detail to memory, and for a second she wonders if the red that stains his hands and pools between his knuckles was all gained in the same Hell where she’d acquired hers, or if some of it belonged to one of the people inside that little market in the middle of nowhere who’d been minding their own business until a Gecko showed up at their door to bring them pain and sorrow._

_Seth had looked at her, only for a second and through slanted eyes and gritted teeth, before turning his gaze back onto the road and refusing to look her way again._

_Apparently, her Daddy wasn’t the only one who could get him to keep his mouth shut._

_And now they were at the Camino Real Motel, bruised and bloody and trying to hide away from the demons that were sure to come searching for them and the ghosts that had already sunk their claws onto their souls and conscious._

_God help them._

…

“Where the fuck is she, Richard?”

Seth’s gun is aimed straight at his brother’s heart, held steady by the fear and desperation coursing through his system. Richie’s stiffness and Santanico’s cautious stance two steps behind him do nothing to alleviate his worry, and the part of him that’s always know there’s something seriously fucked and irreparable inside his brother’s head is begging him to pull the trigger; to finish the job and earn some kind of bullshit leverage to even out all the harm they’ve caused.

Because he knows the answer.

Kate wouldn’t run from him; she hadn’t back when she’d had every right and reason to do so, waiting for him in front of that fucking RV, looking lost and aching but not broken or beaten. Or every time since then when he’d been a bastard who should have died inside the hellhole that had taken his brother and her family. But she never had, and she never would anymore; not after all they’d been through together, not after how long it’d taken them to get to the point they were in now.

He knows the only possibility is that she’s either been taken or killed, and he wishes more than anything that it wasn’t the case; that she’d wised up and ran as fast and as far as she could away from him and Richie and Scott and every other monster her heart managed to love.

“Carlos got to her before we could,” he states, voice as calm and collected as ever and it makes Seth’s fingers itch with the need to inflict half the shit he’s feeling into Richie’s face. “What the hell was she even doing back inside the ruins? You were supposed to keep her safe.”

Seth feels his blood begin to boil, and his vision both sharpens and blurs under the unprecedented wave of anger that crashes through him. “We’ve been running from fucking Culebras for the past three months! You and your motherfucking kind are the reason Kate’s missing!”

“No,” Santanico speaks up, stepping forward until she’s standing beside Richie and directly in front of Seth’s line of fire. “The people you’ve been running from are the same ones we’ve been chasing down. They were the ones who had me trapped.”

“Is that why they’ve been after us? One of Carlos’ fucked up plans to get back at you through us?”

“It’s not that simple, the Gods-,” she tries to explain, but he cuts her off before she can begin, lifting his gun so it’s aimed at her forehead. He knows it won’t kill her, but he swears to God he’d trade his soul if it meant he got to take the bitch down to Hell with him.  

“I don’t want to hear any more stories about your fucking Gods and their bullshit prophesies and rituals. What the hell do they want with Kate?”

“She’s been marked,” Richie confesses, and Seth feels the air being knocked out of his lungs. “She was marked since the day at the Twister and the Gods are demanding her to replace Santanico.”

He pauses.

“It’s never been about you, Seth; all that time running and hiding, it was her they were after.”

…


	2. the crackers were probably bad luck anyways

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Same as in the previous chapter, italics are set right after the season finale.   
> Title comes from Obsessions by Marina and the Diamonds. Honestly, give that song a listen if you're not familiar with her music. She's absolutely fantastic.

_She’d been the one to shower first._

_It hadn’t even been a matter up to discussion. By the time he’d checked them into their room Kate had felt like the blood on her skin would be a permanent mark on her body if she didn’t wash it away in the next instant. She’d headed straight for the restroom, shedding her clothes along the way and not bothering to lock the door once she’d closed it. The water had been much too hot, scalding her sensitive skin bright pink and steaming all around her but it’d felt perfect because it dulled the thoughts in her head and made it too difficult to see the swirls of red that pooled around her feet before running down the drain._

_She’d stood underneath the torrent of water long after was needed, eyes closed and mouth open and feeling selfish but not giving a damn._

_It’s not until the stream turns cold that she shuts it off, grabbing for one of the cheap and off-white bathrobes the motel offered and wrapping it around her body. She doesn’t have anything else to wear, and she’d rather run around naked than ever touch her bloodstained clothes again._

_Tomorrow: she’d worry about all the formalities tomorrow._

_Tonight all she wants to do is sleep: deep and dreamless and wonderful._

_But when she opens the door he’s not there anymore and panic takes a hold of her. All she can think about is how he’s realized what a mistake they’ve made and that he’s left before they dig a deeper hole for themselves. Tears spring to her eyes and she furiously brushes them away with the back of her hand before they have a chance to fully form because if she did not cry for her father or her brother or herself, she sure as Hell isn’t going to break down and cry over Seth Gecko._

_And then door opens and he steps back inside, holding a large paper bag with the motel’s logo on it and dropping it on the twin bed closest to him. He gives her a side glance, still not making eye contact, and scowls when he catches sight of the disbelief and obvious relief that has taken over her. He reaches into the bag and pulls out what looks like a black t-shirt and a pair of gray shorts, making his way to the shower and stopping only to glare at the floor before deciding he needed to clarify a point._

_“If I was gonna ditch you, it would’ve been outside the Twister when you still had a way to get home, not stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere with no money and while your back is turned. I may be a bastard, but I’m not a fucking bastard, Princess.”_

_The bathroom door slams behind him and Kate cringes when she hears the lock slip into place. A quick look into the bag and she finds a set of clothes waiting for her. Everything is two sizes too big and she has to pull the strings on the shorts as tight as possible so they don’t slip off her hips but they’re new and clean and it’s more than she thought she’d have any time soon. Honestly, she probably should have been thanking him instead of trying to figure out how quickly she could fall asleep to avoid facing him again._

_Kate climbs onto her own bed, crossing her legs and granting herself five minutes to think about her situation._

_Everything is awkward._

_She knows he wishes they could have each had their own room, but the fear that kept them somewhere between paralyzed and overcharged had tugged at his conscious and demanded she be underneath his watchful eye at all times. She understands that, because even though there’s a part of her that wishes she could hate him for giving them all a first-class ticket into their own personal Hells, the larger part of her clenches and claws at her throat any time the words she wants to yell at him churn in the pit of her stomach and burn underneath the pressure of her lungs._

_She could have gone home._

_Kate could have taken the keys to the RV that Ranger Gonzalez had risked his life to get for her; to give her a shot at normalcy and safety. She could have driven back to Bethel, where her friends and family would have coddled and protected her from any harm; where she could have been free to go to church and pray and find a way to justify the path that God had set her and her family on. She would’ve had the chance to make peace with herself and the things she had done and to mourn the loss of her family with the respect and devotion that they deserved. She could have finished High School and gone on to college and to a career that would have made her Mamma and Daddy proud: find a nice boy who loved and treated her right and with whom she could start her own family._

_Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve._

_She’d gotten as far as sitting on the driver’s seat._

_And then she’d spotted it._

_There, hanging on the visor and staring straight at her, was the picture of her family her Daddy had clipped for their trip. Her fingers had trembled as she reached for the wrecked photograph, folded and bent from being constantly handled, and for the first time she could see the things she’d been too blind and naïve to find before. She could see the sadness in her mother’s dull eyes, the tension that pulled at the edges of her lips as she forced a smile for her family’s sake; the anger in Scott’s stance, burning both brighter and darker than all of them, clenched fists that kept at bay the violence thrumming through him; mostly, she could feel the desperation rolling off her father in waves, the very embodiment of a man who was grasping at air to hold his life together and who still had faith that the Lord would show him the way._

_They were all on the cusp of falling apart._

_But when her eyes land on her own face, all she can see is Happiness._

_Pure, unfiltered and untainted, joy: the kind that came from a life free of worries and gifted to her by parents who’d done their absolute best to keep her innocent and fulfilled; who’d imprinted God into her soul since she was a baby and who’d taught her to trust that everything happened for a reason and that there was a higher being who was true and benevolent and fair and who would protect them from harm and hurt if only they promised to believe in Him and his judgment._

_And that was the moment Kate knew she couldn’t go back._

_Because that happiness was flushed out of her system the moment her mother’s heart stopped beating, and what little remained evaporated under the hellfire that turned her father to ashes and her brother into a monster. In a bizarre way, she thinks that maybe now is the closest she’s ever felt to being truly connected to her family. She feels everything: her mother’s sorrow and her brother’s fury and her father’s desperation and she wonders if she were to stare at her reflection in the rearview mirror which of those emotions would rule supreme._

_She’s too terrified to look; nowhere near brave enough to face what kind of fate was held I store for her if she followed in their footsteps. There’s no way out if she went back home because all her options were already tried out and experienced for her when her momma had given up and her daddy had tried to run and her brother had fought and none of those three paths gave them the answers they searched for and had instead taken claim of their lives._

_Kate doesn’t want that._

_She doesn’t want to live her life in constant fear of herself._

_She doesn’t want to find redemption only moments before her dying breath._

_So she’d carefully folded the picture in half and placed it inside her pocket before climbing off the driver’s seat and out of the RV, wishing and hoping and praying for a sign that would help guide her in the right direction. She can’t go home and can’t stay here and she can’t follow Ranger Gonzalez who has proven time and time again to be a noble man because even though she’s sure he’d be willing to help her and might even let her become a part of his family, she knows that in his eyes she’ll always be a victim._

_If all she has in one choice left, than she chooses to never carry that title._

_And then ground starts shaking and Seth walks out the Twister’s doors, looking like everything she feels and her feet are moving towards him before her mind has the chance to catch up to her actions and she’s asking him to take her with him. He’d looked away, and for a moment she’d been sure that his answer would be ‘no’ but then he’d stared at her and she thinks that maybe he saw in her the same thing she could see in him because he agrees and  she’s climbing into a Corvette with him and suddenly all the horrible things he’s done pale in comparison to the silent promise of understanding and solidarity that hides behind the irises of his still-shining eyes and the warmth that radiates from his beating heart._

_The car had sped away and the engine’s roar was loud enough to drown out her worries and for a second she’d allowed the wind in her hair to brush away her hurt and her heart to burst free._

_But then he’d pulled up to that market and reality had come crashing back in and Kate’s not sure if she’s more angry at herself for believing she could ever find peace with a person like him or at Seth for not being strong and wise enough to make the right decision for the both of them and send her packing as far away from him as she could possibly be._

_Because it’s too late for second chances now._

_Real or not, a promise had been made between them: forged in blood and tears and pain under the eyes of her God and theirs and Seth might not believe and it might mean nothing to him but she knows deep in her heart that she’ll never be the one to leave him. She can’t take his brother’s place and he’ll never be able to fill the void inside of her but they’re each other’s family now: both by choice and circumstance and that, well, that means something._

_It means everything._

_So, she takes a deep breath and she forces herself to try once more when the lock rattles softly against the door and they’re finally in the same room again. He’s got an arm wrapped around his torso and there’s a slight limp to his step that hadn’t been quite as visible before and his breath is coming out in short and soft rasps that are tall-tell signs of ribs that are, in the best case scenario, only bruised or fractured. The adrenaline had been washed out of him and the beating he had taken in the past twenty-four hours was finally taking its toll on him._

_The cold shower, while absolutely necessary, had done nothing to help relax his body and had instead agitated his already stiff and aching muscles. Quite frankly, she doesn’t know how he’s still managing to stand, much less walk around._

_It’s pure instinct that wakes up in her gut._

_“Let me help you,” she calls out, sliding off the bed and moving to stand beside him. Her arm comes up to wrap around his waist and she pulls his free arm onto her shoulder to keep him steady as she helps him walk towards the empty bed. “You shouldn’t be pushing yourself anymore right now or we’ll have to take you to the hospital.”_

_Seth groans out the loud the moment his back touches the mattress, squeezing his eyes shut for a few seconds before finally opening them against to meet her worried face. Some of the anger that he’d been directing at her has dissipated, and a sort of cautious curiosity has taken its place. Kate feels like she’s on display, being judged and evaluated by her biggest critic while every single one of her flaws lays out on the open for him to tear apart, but he must have found something in her worth praising because the rest of his anger melts away and he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes again._

_“What the hell have we gotten ourselves into, Katie-Cakes?” he murmurs, more asleep than awake._

_Honestly, she has absolutely no idea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everybody liked this chapter! I really wanted to give a go at writing out what I think might have been passing through Kate's mind when she decided to go with Seth rather than go home.   
> Next one will have things starting to pick up and will probably include more current-time plot from Seth's POV.   
> Let me know what you think so far!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all like it so far! Let me know if you're confused about anything!


End file.
